Chapter 8
The battle went from bad to far worse in what seemed like a single heartbeat. Vastro had finally comprehended the law of chaos itself, mastering it to perfection.
He did what most believed impossible.... he manipulated the purest form of chaos energy and wielded it freely.
What seemed effortless was far deadlier than anyone could imagine.
Chaos energy was the purest, most destructive energy that could ever exist.
Even a being of immense power, not yet risen to the Existential Source Realm, exposed to it would likely die....or, at the very least, suffer wounds that would take billions of years to heal.
Chaos energy was the origin of all things and the end of all things. It was the source and the vanishing, the very thread of existence itself.
The legends, the mystery, the sheer terror surrounding it made the full comprehension of the law of chaos nearly impossible.
And yet, Vastro had done it.
He was already a master of the law of the Abyss, manipulating conceptual laws that would twist the minds of most supreme geniuses.
But mastery of chaos energy? That was on another level entirely.
It wasn't just genius that allowed him to harness it
....it was obsession, determination, and the countless failures that had scarred him along the way.
He had spent eons trying to comprehend it, dying countless times in experiments gone wrong, each failure threatening to end him.
He had almost given up, stalled at the edge of understanding, broken.... but not defeated.
And now, luck.... or fate.... had brought him to a place dense with chaos energy.
Hell itself had sealed the area to protect its inhabitants, yet even the most supremely powerful beings had no idea how thick the raw chaos here truly was.
In the middle of battle, gravely wounded, his very existence teetering, he was forced into a corner.
If he had unleashed even 30% of his true power earlier, he might have destroyed everything, yet he had not.
Under that pressure, Vastro reached deep, probing the hidden reservoirs of chaotic energy. The first attempts failed. His body, scarred and strained, screamed at him to stop.
But he pushed further, years of obsession guiding him, each failure sharpening his understanding. And then, everything clicked.
He felt it.... the true nature of pure chaos energy, raw and untamed. He mastered the law of chaos.
Yet even now, he did not dare harness its full destructive potential.
To do so would border on madness, even for him.
Instead, he diluted it, using it to form armor around his body, a helmet encasing him in multicolored energy, while black cosmic flames danced over him.
The force of destruction he could now unleash had taken a staggering leap.
He looked at his enemies, towering over them not just in strength but in pure terrifying presence.
A warm smile curved his lips. To him, it was merely a smile. To them, it was a death sentence.
"Come on," Vastro said, voice calm, almost casual. "The party isn't over yet."
Ragnoth and the other top-tier beings poured every ounce of their energy into summoning.
But they didn't fight. Instead, they erected a massive barrier, trying desperately to find an escape.
Dread slammed into them, overwhelming every sense. If not for the paralyzing terror, they might have realized their efforts were useless.... their existence was tied to their tier in Hell.
Escape wasn't an option.
Vastro didn't wait for them to orient themselves. He moved, full force.
Chaos armor flared around his body as he conjured a chaos ball in his palm and hurled it straight at the barrier.
The ball slammed hard. For a fleeting second, it seemed the barrier might hold.... but then more balls appeared before him.
With the Blade of Oblivion, he struck them like some dark, twisted game of golf.
The chaos balls shot forward like meteors, smashing into the barrier. It shattered.
What followed was pure slaughter.
Vastro cut down the remaining powerful beings one by one.
Some tried to flee, others fought to defend, but it didn't matter. They all fell. Round after round, the carnage continued until silence descended.
When it ended, Vastro stood atop a massive dragon.... Ragnoth.
His face was calm, composed. The thrill of battle had left him. None of this was easy, but none of it had been truly difficult either. He adapted too quickly.
His millennia of knowledge gathering and experience made slaying these beings almost effortless.
Adding his newly mastered law of Chaos into the mix, he knew it was only a matter of time before he blasted through the remaining gates of Hell and finally completed the trial...
A soft white portal began forming in the warped space. When it solidified, it shone like a constellation amidst the ruins. Vastro didn't hesitate. The Chaos Armor faded, and he stepped through.
He emerged in a place both familiar and alien. A reflective platform stretched infinitely in every direction, flanked by colossal pillars that vanished into the horizon.
They radiated oppressive power, a weight so immense it would crush any mortal spirit.
Vastro frowned... not because of the scene, not because of the oppressive aura, but because he recognized this place. It was identical to his throne room in the Eighth Realm.
As if confirming his suspicion, a calm, surreal voice echoed from afar. "Who do we have here?"
Vastro's brows rose. He snarled, black flames erupting around him as he gripped the Blade of Oblivion.
If this was the next trial, it might be his hardest yet. His blue-flaming eyes burned brighter, and his steps.... calculated, deliberate.... covered ground at impossible speed. Seconds later, he stood before the voice's owner.
What he saw made his eyebrows twitch.
Sitting on the throne of the endless abyss was a figure identical to him.... Vastro, but amplified.
The aura radiating from this twin made Vastro's own domineering presence seem like child's play. This was Vastro at his absolute peak.
Vastro's eyes twitched violently. He had anticipated a difficult trial, but this? This was far too much.
Completely unfair.
But fairness had never been Hell's concern.
The twin Vastro finally opened his eyes,
voice low and venomous.
"Such insolence… kneel."
TO BE CONTINUED....